My name is Julia Aziz, and I support those who spend much of their time and energy supporting others. Whether you’re burning out from giving so much, feeling anxious about the future, going through some big changes, or grieving a loss, I am here to help you access the wisdom inside even when it’s hard to find, and feed your own needs in balance with the needs of others. 

I began working in the fields of mental health and spiritual development as a young adult in the mid-nineties. As much as I loved my counseling clients in those early years, the martyrdom and perfectionism encouraged in the profession felt completely at odds with the wellness and healing we were meant to be facilitating for others. As I later became a mother of three, those pressures to over-give increased tenfold. In the unwinding of my own conditioning over the years, I have unlearned some of the limiting and power-imbalanced assumptions of the traditional psychological model. In this process, a new body of work has developed to support and empower mental health and healthcare professionals, parents, leaders, and all those caring individuals acting in service to others. This work brings us back to our humanity, our roots, and the cycles of nature. It opens the channel for creative expression and integrates what is simple, effective, and authentic to each individual’s unique path. 

I blend different tools in my work depending on what resonates most. Often there is an alchemy of deep listening, writing, meditation, movement, mindfulness, music, natural elements, mind-body and intuitive practice, and traditional healing tools. I’m a mystic healer priestess creative at heart, coming from a lineage of Ashkenazi Jewish healers and teachers, clinically trained as a psychotherapist and professionally trained as a spiritual counselor and ceremony officiant. My greatest influences have been a deep and abiding connection with nature-including different animal and plant teachers, folk Judaism and my maggid and kohenet ancestors, Buddhism and Eastern philosophy, the indigenous teachings and traditional medicine I have had the honor of learning (including what is sometimes called shamanism), transpersonal psychology, and all the wonderful mentors that have showed up throughout my life. I have also learned so much from my own vulnerabilities. They have taught me to choose authenticity, honor my own rhythms, and embrace the unknown.

Integrity is incredibly important to me. I strive to embody what I teach and allow learning to evolve along the way. My background includes:

• Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Supervisor
• Ordained Interfaith Minister and former Interfaith Hospice Chaplain with Hospice Austin and Girling Hospice
• 25+ Years of Counseling and Service Experience including group facilitation, ceremony, and community healing work
• Author of self-compassion practice book When You’re Having a Hard Time: The Little Book That Listens and self-help memoir Lessons of Labor: One Woman’s Self-Discovery Through Birth and Motherhood
• Ordination through two-year seminary program in world religions and secular/interfaith ceremony facilitation (One Spirit Interfaith Seminary, 2003)
• Masters of Science in Social Work (University of Texas at Austin, 1999)
• B.A., Psychology with High Honors, Phi Beta Kappa (Colgate University, 1996)
• Consultant for integrative health organizations, former faculty at AOMA Graduate School of Integrative Medicine (2012-2023), and experienced speaker and facilitator for private groups and organizations (see some past presentations here)
• Certified by Marika Alvarado, Apache elder and medicine woman, as a Traditional Healer through Of The Earth School of Indigenous Medicine
• Completed two year supervised training in Clinical Hypnosis through the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (ASCH) and Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist through the International Certification Board of Clinical Hypnotherapy.
• Extensive studies and practice of mindfulness meditation in Thailand (Theravada Buddhist tradition), Nepal (Mahayana Tibetan Buddhist tradition), and the US (various practices) since 1996
• Over twenty-five years of experience in movement practices and somatic forms of healing, including Middle Eastern bellydance, intuitive movement, and certification as a Body Choir Facilitator (2001). Also trained in energy medicine, including Emotional Freedom Technique (known as EFT or tapping).

If you’re wondering if we would be a good fit for working together, you can consider some of the principles that guide my practice:

• Though you may be struggling, there is nothing wrong with you. Everyone alive is still learning.
• You are your own best healer. You can learn to center yourself in all kinds of challenging circumstances. You can gain access to inner wisdom as you need it, and when you fall off course, you can get back on.
• When you truly love yourself, even the hard things get a little easier.

I believe the time of the expert is over. We can no longer put our healers and teachers on pedestals and hope they can fix us or provide some hidden key. We can no longer drain ourselves trying to fix or save other people. There is great opportunity for finding the wisdom and strength we need within though. We have entered a time for self-healing and empowerment–and we do this best together, in community. I am here to support you in your own process, whatever that may look like.

If you’d like to hear more, please subscribe to my newsletter. I don’t email too often, but will send seasonal reflections along with more information on upcoming offerings. You are also welcome to read more on the blog or listen to a podcast interview if you’d like to get a better sense of who I am and how I work.

With care,

Julia Aziz, LCSW-S, OIM
she/her